Rank: Private
Regimental Number: 3870
Place of Birth: Fremantle, Western Australia
Address: College Avenue, Claremont, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Mother, Mrs M M Higham
Enlistment Date: 30 July 1917
Unit Name: 51st Battalion, 11th Reinforcement
Age embarkation: 21
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Farmer
Date of Death: 24 April 1918
Place of Burial: Adelaide Cemetery (Plot III, Row B, Grave No. II), Cillers-Bretonneux, France
Links: -
History
Second youngest son of Harry James William (died 1917) and Maud Mary (Bateman) Higham of 32 Alexandra Rd, East Fremantle, WA. First cousin of Ernest Higham (mother Maud was also sister to Edith, above, reinforcing the bonds between these merchant families). The family held land at Barramining, near Williams (father Harry and sons were all pastoralists or farmers). Malcolm was working there when he enlisted. The family also owned a home in College Avenue, Claremont, where he attended Scotch College with his brothers and cousins.
Malcolm Higham took the oath at Perth on 11 Jul 1917, then on 30 Jul was allotted to the 11th Reinforcements, 51st Battalion. Training began in WA, then they were sent to Melbourne, departing for England on the Aeneas on 30 Oct. They reached England two days after Christmas and settled into Codford Camp with the training battalion.
In mid-Feb 1918 he was sick with influenza for four days.
On 1 April 18 they arrived at Calais, and were added to a military organization on 6 April. He died and was buried where he fell during the recapture of Villers-Bretonneux, later reinterred at the Adelaide British Cemetery (1919).
His name is commemorated at Scotch College. The Bateman/Higham connections were very strong (third generation and highly successful). Malcolm's first cousin Harold Bateman Higham and wife Elsie had a son in Oct 1918, and in memory of their losses in that terrible year, named him Ernest Malcolm Higham (who went on to become a lieutenant in WWII). Malcolm's brother William John Ashburton Higham (SERN 3235) served in the 10th Light Horse, and returned to Australia in 1919.
